Enjoyed the Monday morning outing from Arden.
ACROSS
1 Bit plump, but he made safe journey finally (6) CHUBBY {CHUBB}{
4 Express doubt on call to involve him in the killing (8) BUTCHERY {BUT}{C{HE}RY}
9 Sailing out, one lost the message (6) SIGNAL SAiLING*
10 Female on the run with boyfriend carrying a torch (8) FLAMBEAU {F}{LAM}{BEAU}
13 Fluff roll, happiness cut short (6) BUNGLE {BUN}{GLE
15 Determine aim – wandering in the morning (4,8) ANTE MERIDIEM*
18 Even he is part of group making annual report (7,5) BALANCE SHEET {BALANCE} {S{HE}ET}
21 Don assumes university is under pressure (6) DURESS {D{U}RESS}
22 Guy having red wine was a piano maker (8) STEINWAY {ST{WINE*}AY}
24 Changing leadership – a disaster for West (8) OCCIDENT (-a+o)OCCIDENT
25 Under one's feet some pets nip around (6) INSTEP [T<=]
26 Cursing us – it's so hot outside (8) SWEARING {S{WE}EARING}
27 Short tribute for working capital (6) BEIRUT
DOWN
1 Acts like Robinson Crusoe (8) CASTAWAY {ACTS}*
2 Tune sung sadly, they are balmy (8) UNGUENTS*
3 He is after black money – the promoter (5,10) BRAND AMBASSADOR {B}{RAND} {AMBASSADOR}
5 Not a nice fruit, they say (4) UGLY (~ugli) A seems extraneous
6 Subject will use concept – crime will be solved (8,7) COMPUTER SCIENCE*
7 Go with blue, green and a touch of yellow (6) ENERGY {GREEN*}{Y
8 Off to buy ecstasy, that's for sure (3,3) YOU BET {TO+BUY+E}*
11 Live on royalty, able to hold a drink (4,3) BEER CAN {BE}{ER} {CAN}
14 Bill introduced to cut outlay finally, due to heavy consumption (7) EDACITY {ED{AC}IT}{
16 It's the main ingredient (8) SEAWATER [CD]
17 When placed under supports, does not move (5,3) STAYS PUT {STAYS}<=>{PUT}
19 Loves to embrace girl, we deem it disgraceful (6) ODIOUS {O{DI}O}{US}
20 Nothing clear about the voice (6) ORACLE {O}{CLEAR*}
23 Bull not caught immediately (4) ANON
Easy one. Steinway needed help for fine tuning.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant crossword, Arden - thanks a ton! The surfaces are to die for. Too many favourites to pick a COD, but I think 23d stands out just that little bit higher - first among equals, as it were.
ReplyDeleteOne question: should the "He" in 3d be "HE" instead? I remember some discussion here about capitalisation, and the overall consensus seemed to be that while false capitalisation was fine, to omit capitalisation where it is necessary was not on. In this instance, "HE" gives us ambassador; "He" will not really give us that unless we assume the second letter to be capitalised too. Any views, anyone?
Thanks for the blog, DG!
I think it should have been HE but then the solution would have been a dead giveaway.
DeleteSo what? HE is High Excellency and 'he' is that man. He cannot give 'ambassador'. That is a fact. We would not know if there is a misrepresentation or misprinting.
DeleteI thimk this stretch of imagination is fine as all ambassadors are addressed as His Excellency.
Delete24A- O from?
ReplyDelete"Changing leadership" tells us that first letter has to be changed; it doesn't specify what that letter must be.
DeleteNowhere. 'Changing leadership' indicates change in the first letter of Accident
DeleteThank you. So we have to get it from the def.- Western.
DeleteI agree with DG on the "a" in 5d: not only is it extraneous, it spoils the definition a bit - just "not nice" would work so much better as the definition.
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable and clevva clues today from Arden:) Chubby was a hoot..he made safe !! wow.. balmy def for unguents, very punny :) ANte meridiem has a nice surface too :) Not able to understand the parsing for Steinway tho.. is guy = stay?? what happened to red? Please help.. also Swearing.. i suppose is a typo?
ReplyDeleteRed is the Anagram indicator
Deletetat is rather unsual...is there a precedence for this Colonel? Using red and previously blue as anagram indicators ?? I do not think this should be allowed.. :(
Delete'guy wire' is a stay wire and gives stability.
ReplyDeletethis seems too obscure a reference and something not seen from Arden as yet by me! is there a precedence for guy = stay?
DeleteNot obscure Srividya, it is used quite often
Delete'stay' for support is used in 17D as well.
ReplyDeleteYes .. this is common parlance and supported by thesauri..
DeleteNew colourful aninds found today! BLUE in 7Dn. and RED in 22Ac.
ReplyDeleteI understand 'blue' for 'sad'...'red' for?
Red: to make angry as in see red
DeleteOh! I see! Thanks Vasant. So Blue = Sadly...Red = Angrily :)
Deleteam i the sole voice here? expressing objection to the use of these as anagram indicators.. assuming the colors stand for the emotion - sad or anger..whatever, it is just not possible to imagine them as change creators.
DeleteI thought they were fine..went well with the surfaces
DeleteSrividya,
DeleteBLUE: unhappy, miserable.And as in vulgar, improper, dirty, racy, naughty
RED: revolutionary,
are these accepted worldwide?
DeleteSuperb Puzzle!Among so many outstanding clues, loved Balance Sheet the most for the sheer beauty of the surface. Castaway was awesome; so were the long ones alongwith Chubby,Flambeau,Anon.
ReplyDeleteRaghu @ 12:33 pm
ReplyDeleteHa! This revolutionary RED suits the clue 22Ac as anagram indicator! Thanks, Raghu.
Amazingly crafted long anagrams ! Did all the three last crossies of Arden with a lot of satisfaction. He almost plays telepathy with the solver ! Bravo ARDEN !
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for 26A. The original clue was: Cursing wife- it's too hot outside. For some inexplicable reason I changed it at the last moment. Moral of the story- Don't fix it if ain't broken.
ReplyDeletePlease read the last sentence as 'Don't fix it if it ain't broken' .
ReplyDeleteReads as good as the CW itself!
DeleteThat has happened to me.
DeleteRepeated checking introducing a mistake!
Brilliant crossword from Arden. Loved the neat surfaces and smooth clues. Very enjoyable.
ReplyDelete